Thursday, February 23, 2012

UPDATE #1: Quick update freelancers. My friend Stephen Davies commented something very useful to everyone looking for payment information regarding MyAMS aka LondBrokers.net. His comment is at the bottom of this post but here is the meat and taters of it:

Good for starters or as a filler but better sites exist. Pay rates are really embarrassing for writers, no matter your experience level. Scripted is better, as is Great Content; Problogger for job hunts; iwriter is another abysmal site imo. One of the best ones is Writers Domain.

anyway on MyAMS, or London Brokers, rates are:Minimum of 300 words: $2.00 per articleMinimum of 400 words: $3.00 per articleMinimum of 500 words: $3.50 per articleMinimum of 750 words: $5.00 per articleMinimum of 1,000 words: $6.50 per article

Those rates are pretty much dead to rights. MyAMS is bad when it comes to pay and even worse when it comes to the amount of drudgery they expect from writers. You'll never get burned out quicker than when you write several UAWs in a day. Anyways, be sure to check out Stephen's LinkedIN group. It's an awesome resource for freelance writers and something you should keep in your toolbox.

UPDATE #2: Hello again everyone. It's been a few months but life got a hold of me and I had no time for writing. I'm going to start again though and would like to update my opinion of MyAMS. Let's jump right in.

I've read the comments below and looked into the policy over at MyAMS. On their FAQ they state:

Do I have to be a native English speaker?

Yes. This is an absolute must and there is no exception to this rule. If you are not a native English speaker but still join us, please note that we close your account and don’t pay you for the work you have delivered. We also don’t use the articles you wrote of course.

We have writers from USA, Canada, England, South Africa.

This is taken directly from their FAQ and is ridiculous to me. Wouldn't you make that decision according to the skill of the writer? Not their nationality. I know many excellent non-native writers. I've looked into this more and realized that MyAMS is not the only site that does this. Most Pay-upfront sites require the author to be from an English speaking country. I guess it's just the name of the game.

On to another thing I've noticed over the two or so years I've been associated with MyAMS. Their affiliate pay scale, and pay in general, is pretty low for the amount of writing. I've stopped writing all together for them as the amount of time versus the price per article is unbalanced. Also, I have over 500 affiliates and receive maybe $10 every 2 to 3 weeks. That's it. I feel they either don't register all of my affiliates or they don't pay when I've been inactive for a couple weeks. When I do log-in I typically have to click a link that "reactivates" my account. I think that's just a slick way to not have to pay. Thanks for reading.

Okay, so this is a freelance writing site that I work for as an affiliate. I want to be upfront with that. However, I am going to try my best to provide a completely unbiased review. The site has many unique features and the pay is decent; you're not going to get rich from it, but you can make a relatively good wage and they pay every Friday morning through PayPal or Payoneer. So, let's get started.

The Pros of Freelance Writing for this Site

MyAMS has a unique Job Board that, on average, has upwards of 500 projects available at any time. They also include a couple different types of bonuses. The first type is a 5% bonus on all there articles that are not urgent. A writer can get this bonus by turning in the project within 24 hours. In regards to the second type of bonus, it works a little differently. This bonus is based upon an urgent article. These are projects that typically have less than 24 hrs to complete. They pay an extra $1.10 depending on the urgency of the project. By examining the job board, you can find projects that are urgent and pay a lot more for a lower word-count. This a good way to make extra money while doing less work.

Another cool thing that this freelance site offers is titles. Each title pays 1 cent. Most projects need 25 titles. Some need 100 or more. The great thing about the titles is that MyAMS provides what they call a title spinner. This unique widget can help you create the titles quickly. For example, 25 titles typically take about a minute to create. So, it is important to look for projects that need titles as this is a very simple way to make some quick cash.

They also offer a comprehensive help page and Live Support. The help page covers every type of project they offer, how to use their system and a plethora of other advice. It also has numerous video tutorials that are very helpful. The Live Support is almost always on line and you can have any questions answered immediately. When they are offline they will get back to you quickly with answers to any questions.

The Cons of this Freelance Writing Site

The site is still under development, so if you dislike ugly websites then you will hate this one. It's plain but functional. However, some of their seemingly simple functions do not work as intended.

As an affiliate for their freelance writing site I have noticed that not all of my writers show up on my payment page. I have contacted their accounting department about this and still have not received an answer. It makes me worry that I am missing out on payments because they are not properly tracking what my writers turn in.

You will not get rich from this website. However, it is a good starting point and they always pay. The only bad part is that they take full control of your work once you submit it, so there is no real way to build a portfolio through this freelancing site.

There are a ton of projects to choose from, but many of them can be very boring unless you simply enjoy writing no matter the topic. Most are UAWs which includes 1 original and 2 rewritten articles. This can become an arduous task when you do them over and over.

So, Why Should Freelance Writers Work For AMS?

There are many reasons. The most simplest is that you can completely stop bidding on freelance sites and work strictly for them. You will typically make more money than projects on the aforementioned websites and you will never have to worry about getting screwed out of a payment by an unscrupulous employer. Which I have experienced many times, and I am confident you all have as well. They pay every Friday morning and there payment screen does a relatively good job of tracking your jobs and how much you are owed.

After a year or so of working for other auction sites I finally discovered MyAMS and was ecstatic that I could finally pick and choose the projects I wanted to do. The Job board is by far the coolest thing I have seen. It tells you everything you need to know in a glance; how much the project pays, the deadline, any applicable titles and any special instructions.

If you're tired of placing bid after bid on site after site then I highly suggest you check-out MyAMS. Or, watch my freelance writing video reviews on my channel and embedded here.

25 comments :

I too was a affiliate for this site. But they suspended my work after an year saying that my writing is poor. If it was so, they should have suspended it months ago. not after I have accumulated more than $200 in my account. Is there any way I can get this money? I tried contacting their support center but I have not got a reply so far.

I would keep contacting them about it. Another guy I know got cut off at around 5 or 6 articles. I'm not sure how much he had earned but he eventually got paid. I'll see what I can find out about it. Probably not anymore than you, but if this company is in the habit of this I want to know about it.

To put it due prospective, AMS is a bunch of frauds. I do not know but I can assume they way they go about business, they are taking writers for a ride. This is done is done in one way or the other. I having got the boot in submission of my first article on the pretext that I am a non native user of the language seems a silly excuse for not only me but my son and my grand sons there after will be the users of the language. If this is the case then another point can be made against AMS that they are racially biased. Me being a nature user can and will strongly stress this. Steven William Pitts

I also think there is a racial element in this site's operation. I joined and wrote articles which they kept rejecting on extremely flimsy grounds.I think they set their mind and decide not to admit some people beforehand; especially when they have a clue that you are NOT ONE OF THEIR OWN. If i sent some of the articles they rejected, on controversial grounds,to an English language professor , they would receive a big nod. I say this because I happen to have been through English language classes run by the creme de la creme of the field, and I did well.Its either someone is sleeping on the job or there is an elaborate scheme to shun some groups of people because of reasons other than their writing abilities.

Most job-board sites like this only accept native English speaking writers. If you're not from America or England, look into Constant Content. They don't require tax forms or care where you live. Also, ad sites like ProBlogger, BloggingPro and even Craigslist have numerous full and part-time freelance writing jobs. As long as you can write well, most employers could careless where you're writing from. If you do work for an American company, I believe the W-8 BEN tax form will cover you as a non-citizen.

Hey Mike! what a summary, i've worked for these guys and everything u've said is pretty much true...i have one question though. I've noticed that they currently block new writers from seeing order on the bb, do u know of a way i could use to get full access of the bb just like other writers. Please helpFeel free to reach me on jmuch2010@gmail.com

Hey there, sorry about the late reply, I've not had time to work on the blog lately. For MyAMS, you'll need to complete at least 5 articles, if I remember correctly, before they'll rate them and open the BB entirely. Also, once they rate the first 5, check out the Raise Quota link at the top of the BB. You can accept more articles at a time once they raise your quota. Once you get some experience on MyAMS, I would apply to other writing sites that I have links for on the right side under Recommended Sites for Freelance Work. They pay far better than MyAMS. Hope this helps, and let me know if you have more questions.

I have been writing for myams for years. Sure, I'm not getting rich, but the work is reliable and the pay is always on time. They are legit. I have never had a problem and have found them to be most pleasant and helpful. Pardon my frankness please, when I point out that a few here claiming to be "native English" speakers are fooling no one. You break the rules, you deal with the consequences. The myams articles are written for an English speaking audience; the least they can do is provide work created by those who think in English. There is no bigotry in this - get over it.

I dont no wy my ams keep regectin my riting. evry one say my riting are good. I no mose of al my riting is well. thay mus jus be rasism. I talk English my hole life and my family do two. my ams are rasism.

My opinion is if an individual proves their ability to write English proficiently by submitting samples or examples, then their country of residence should have little bearing on their employ-ability as a freelance writer. Now, with that said, I fully understand the complications that may arise due to taxes and other country-specific paperwork. So, I think it's misguided and naive to blame or label the freelance writing site as racist or bigots or what-have-you when in actuality they are only doing what is best for their business. One must take into account the complications and expenses that these sites almost certainly have to deal with if they want to employ people from other nations. Considering each country has their own unique tax laws and foreign employment regulations not to mention differing and oftentimes problematic political relationships with the nation in which the freelance website operates, one can see that limiting the countries of employment is almost certainly a necessity in order to function smoothly and profitably as a freelance writing site. I can almost guarantee it has nothing to do with a bias towards where one lives and everything to do with being fiscally responsible and striving to achieve the greatest profits with the smallest amount of overhead. Personally, however, I do wish my many foreign freelance friends had more options for finding work through job-board sites like MyAMS. I know for a fact that there are thousands upon thousands of highly skilled English writers living in non-native countries that could greatly benefit from a site like MyAMS and others. Unfortunately, until things change on a global level, they are stuck finding work the hard way. One more thing and then I'll go, you're right about MyAMS being legit and reliable. While they do pay low compared to other sites, they always pay what they owe and they usually have a lot of work available. And just having that guaranteed means of earning money, no matter what your situation may be, is absolutely amazing to me even after all these years. As I say in my post, MyAMS was the very first job-board writing site that I found, and it gave me the ability and motivation to begin a full-time career as a freelancer, so I am extremely grateful for their site and the people who operate it.

It's been so long since I signed up that I am not entirely sure. If they are like other similar sites, then they probably require a W-9 to be submitted. However, I don't remember so don't quote me on that. If MyAMS doesn't require a tax-form, then I would guess that they simply base it off of how you answer their registration questions and whether you can write English with the skill of a native speaker. If that's the case, then your short comment shows me why you're still able to write for them, you have a good grasp of English writing. Like a guy commented above you, many wanna-be writers get upset that their accounts get disabled and call it bigotry even though they can't form a basic English sentence. These freelance Websites are in the business of selling the content that you create to clients who need articles that are readable and engaging. If the client is delivered an article that is unreadable or makes little sense, then they are very likely to find a site that can provide quality material.

Good for starters or as a filler but better sites exist. Pay rates are really embarrassing for writers, no matter your experience level. Scripted is better, as is Great Content; Problogger for job hunts; iwriter is another abysmal site imo. One of the best ones is Writers Domain.

anyway on MyAMS, or London Brokers, rates are:Minimum of 300 words: $2.00 per articleMinimum of 400 words: $3.00 per articleMinimum of 500 words: $3.50 per articleMinimum of 750 words: $5.00 per articleMinimum of 1,000 words: $6.50 per article

They have been around for a while as their margins are probably high. They always win on the profits.

I have a LinkedIn group, over 5000 members, where writers discuss opportunities and how to find work every week. Do join as you can gain useful info. https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Freelance-Writing-Jobs-All-Levels-4296428

Stephen Davies is one of the few of us out there genuinely interested in helping other freelancers get ahead. You all would be wise to listen to him. And he hit the nail smack on the head with what he said above.

Thank you for this, I really liked it:)Regardling the native/non-native English speaker issue, I really feel offended when I see this kind of things on job boards and content sites. I AM a non-native writer and I have corrected my fair share of articles awfully written by native speakers (and by awful I mean "not knowing the difference between "your" and "you're" + no strucure, no meaning, nothing). There are great native writers and great non-native writers and how good a writer is never depends on his/her nationality.

I couldn't agree more. Basing writing talent on something like nationality is small-minded and naive. With that said, a lot of it has to do with tax difficulties faced by US based companies employing foreign freelance writers. Don't ask me to explain why,cause Im unsure. In my limited understanding, legally paying a foreign writer should be as simple as submitting a W-8BEN but considering all the different tax treaties or lack there of existing between each individual country, it can be extremely difficult for an American company to do business with a variety of nations.

It has been good for working with myams.net freelance writing account.However,i think they are closing the company of late because for 3 weeks now no articles for its writers. Also i think they should increase the money per article especially due to the three copies that we make

@Anthony Caribbean -- The service you provide is very intriguing to me. I don't use MyAms anymore but I am sure there are many readers who do and could benefit from your help. I'll probably contact you soon , perhaps we can discuss a way to offer your service at a discount to FWP readers.